Christmas-tree support



- C. L. BURCHESS.

CHRISTMAS TREE SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1921.

Patented July 4, 1922.

UHARL 55 L. 50/20/1555. INVENTOR.

Ul'l'h CHARLES L. BURCHESS, or LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOROF ONE-HALF To n. M. DIR/KS, or LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

CHRISTMAS-TREE SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 4;, 1922,

Application filed December 27, 1921. Serial No. 524,935. I

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I. CHARLES L. BURoHnss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Lancaster and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Christmas- Tree Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to supports or stands for Christmas trees and the like, and one of my objects is to provide a support which is simple in construction and cheaply manufactured.

Another object which I accomplish is the provision of a collapsible support which can readily be taken down in a few minutes after it has served its purpose for the season, which can easily be packed away in the minimum amount of space, and which can bereassembled as quickly and easily as it was taken down.

Especially is it my object to construct a support which is stable and absolutely rigid when in use.

Still another of my objects is to produce a support which while designed primarily for Christmas trees, may also be used as a support for a variety of objects which are mounted on a staff or pole, and which with slight modifications can be made to serve as a stand or support of almost any kind.

With these and other objects in view, I will now refer to the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a. top plan view of the assembled support.

Figure 2 is a detail view showing the tree holder and the locking means for the support.

Figure 8 is a vertical section of the assembled support, showing the locking means in position.

Figure 4 is a detail view of the upper end of one of the legs.

I mount the stand on three or more legs 10. Each of these legs is provided at its upper end with a plate 11 preferably wedge shaped in outline, and protruding a slight distance beyond the sides of the leg, as clearly shown in Figure 4. The leg is ribbed on one of its sides at 12 for strengthening purposes, said rib terminating a short distance from the plate 11. The upper extremity constitutes a stop or abutment, and on the side of the leg opposite the rib is a stop or abutment 13, the purpose of which will appear later on in the description. The legs are identical in dimensions and construction, and I prefer to cast each one integrally. I may however press them. out of sheet steel or any other suitable material.

The tree holder itself consists of a truncated cone 14 having a central aperture 15 1 for the'reception of the tree. At the lower edge of this cone are slots 16'o-f a depth approximately equal to the width of the legs 10 and of a width slightly greater than the thickness of the legs. These slots are equidistantly spaced on the lower periphery of the cone and correspond in number to the number of legs which I wish to use. At each slot I reduce the outer cone surface at 17 to provide fiat faces. The cone 14: is held in the position shown in Figure 2 and the legs are anchored in the slots 16. When thus anchored, the edges of the plate 11 bear against the inner edges of the cone, and the upper extremity of the rib 12 and the abutment 13 bear against the outer flattened surface of the cone. When in this position the stand is perfectly stable unless disturbed. The cone acts as a key in an arch, and all of the thrust is downward.

Christmas trees are however liable to disturbance, and a slight tilt of the tree would cause the stand to collapse, with possible disastrous results. To prevent this I provide a collar 18 whose inner face corresponds with the lower part of the outer surface of the cone 14.-. This collar has slots 19 corresponding in number and position with the slots 16. After the legs and cone are assembled as above described, I slip the collar 18 onto the lower end of the cone, flush with the lower sides of the legs. The collar 18 is practically wedged on the cone, but to prevent the possiblity of any displacement, I provide aligning apertures 20 and 21 in these two elements. Either one or both of these apertures are screw threaded for the reception of a screw 22. This screw is of course threaded until it enters the aperture 15 far enough to tightly wedge the base of the tree in the cone 14.

Having fully described my invention and the method of using it, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A Christmas tree support comprising a collar which is adapted to surround the base of the tree, a plurality of slots extending upwardly from the lower periphery of said collar, legs which are slidab-le in the direction of the length of the collar but which are not slidable in the direction of their own length, and a second collar having walls which are wedge shaped in cross section, said second collar being adapted to be wedged on the base of said first mentioned collar to thereby close the entrances of said slots after the legs are in place.

2. A Christmas tree support comprising a collar for engaging the base of a tree, slots extending upward from the base of the collar, legs slidable in said slots, said legs being provided with abutments for preventing the outward sliding of the legs and a other abutments for preventing the inward sliding of the legs, a second collar slidable over the lowerportion of the first named collar to prevent sliding of the legs in the direction of the length of the collars,

to prevent sliding of the legs in the remain-" ing direction, said first and second named collars being wedged together.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES L. BURCHES'S. 

